Stories for May 2017

Foreign Minister Malcorra Susana said on Wednesday that Argentina has applied to join the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and is willing to be actively involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

Argentina's oil corporation YPF plans to match United States costs in developing non conventional energy, by the end of 2018. This refers to the very rich shale deposits of Vaca Muerta, with a target of 10 dollars per barrel and for this purpose it has started a program of experimental drillings.

A judge in Argentina has indicted the head of human rights organization the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo. Hebe de Bonafini, 88, has been charged with misusing public funds allocated to a social housing project.

Venezuela’s government said on Wednesday it was sending troops to the western region of Tachira, rocked by violence during anti-government protests, as the United Nations Security Council prepared to discuss the crisis.

Brazil's ambassador to Venezuela, withdrawn last year during tensions between the two neighbors, will return to Caracas next week, Defense Minister Raul Jungmann said Wednesday.Next Monday, the ambassador of Brazil will return to his place in Venezuela as a gesture of goodwill, Jungmann told journalists in Brasilia.

Brazil is concerned about growing numbers of refugees spilling over its border from Venezuela and is creating a plan to deal with a possible mass influx if the crisis in Venezuela worsens, Brazilian Defense Minister Raul Jungmann said on Wednesday.

Brazil's President Michel Temer faced calls for his removal Wednesday after a newspaper reported that he had been recorded discussing payments of hush money to a corrupt politician. Temer immediately denied the report in O Globo newspaper.

Brazilian police on Tuesday opened two separate investigations into whether certain food companies improperly received favorable treatment from the Agriculture Ministry, the latest probe ensnaring the powerful farming sector. The probes into whether inspection procedures were relaxed for meatpacking, dairy and other food companies come two months after industry leaders JBS SA and BRF SA were rocked by allegations of bribing food inspectors.

The managers of “Uruguay Reefer”, the vessel adrift in the South Atlantic after she suffered massive water ingress finally sunk 210 NM outside the Falkland Islands Conservation Zone at 6.000 meters of water.